If there’s one thing that can make or break a home sale, it’s scent.

Home buyers notice if your house smells good! (They also notice if your home smells bad, but that’s another story.) Spring is a great time to subconsciously signal home buyers’ olfactory glands that yours is the house they’ve been looking for.

Which scents do the experts at Creative Home Stagers like to use most often in spring? Here are a few of our favorites.

Lemon

There’s nothing brighter or cleaner than the scent of lemon. Lemons themselves are quite brightly colored, and they’re a “wake-up scent”; smelling one makes you feel energized. Lemons are their ripest during spring (in regions where they grow, of course) and the scent of lemon pairs well with other complementary scents like rosemary. The best thing about adding the subtle scent of lemon to your home is that you can double-up by incorporating real lemons into your décor by simply tossing a few into a bowl. They last forever and you can eat them once you go under contract!

Linen/Cotton

There’s a reason so many stores sell scented candles with a “cotton” or “linen” fragrance. These scents are evocative of freshly washed laundry, which itself makes buyers think clean. Make your house smell just-Spring-cleaned by adding a textile-scented candle or two, and especially consider the spaces that might feel a bit musty otherwise, like finished basements or never-used guest rooms.

Lavender

Lavender is a beautiful, soft scent but it should always be used sparingly. Lavender actually blooms in spring and it’s gorgeous, so there’s no reason not to incorporate a few springs of the fresh stuff into your main living space before a showing or open house! If that’s too much trouble, think about a lavender diffuser or candle, but be sure not to let the scent get too strong or buyers will wonder what you’re covering up.

Sage

Sage is a lovely scent that’s decidedly gender neutral. We’ve seen a lot of “white sage” lately which is a softer, gentler version of this pungent herb. Herb scents are wonderful in springtime because they evoke feelings of new life. Sage is a great scent to incorporate into your kitchen or your bathrooms, in particular.

This spring, think about all the ways smell impacts home buyers. Our sense of smell is the most powerfully tied to our emotions, and buying a new home is undoubtedly emotional. When choosing a scent for your home, always stay away from anything too polarizing – heavy coconut, flowery rose – to avoid alienating buyers. A little scent is good; a touch of scent is better.

Need help staging your home to sell?
Creative Home Stagers are the home staging experts in Charlotte. Reach out to us today to find out how to sell your home this spring.